Tag Archives: ads

The folks at NEC (or TTI) would have had to redo the commercial’s song, though, since I can’t make out most of what’s being said in the current version.

I can hear, “let’s spend the night together!” at the beginning, for instance, and the next thing I can make out is, “together having fun”–which comes just before the oh-so-cheerful chorus. The only other part I understand is the last line: “Look on the bright side of your life!”

All that said, I’ve watched the darn thing about 10 times now, so clearly it can be enjoyed quite a bit despite the language difficulties.

The folks at the long-defunct Working Designs made a lot of great decisions during the 16-bit era. Among them: Their decision to localize (for North American TurboGrafx-16 owners) Telenet’s PC Engine RPG, Cosmic Fantasy 2.

One of their not-so-great decisions: Using the following piece of art to promote said RPG.

The ad above appeared in the April/May 1992 issue of TurboPlay magazine. Unfortunately, the art featured in the ad also appeared on the game’s cover.

Is it any wonder the game wasn’t able to achieve the sales or status of, say, Lunar: The Silver Star, another of Working Design’s 16-bit-era releases?

You know, I’ve always wondered why the folks at Taito (and, later, Working Designs) didn’t do more to play up the fact that Parasol Stars, one of my all-time favorite PC Engine games, was supposed to be the third game in the famed Bubble Bobble series.

Sure, they mentioned that fact in a subtitle (as seen in the ad, which appeared in an old issue of the American TurboPlay magazine, below), but said subtitle is so small and subtle that it’s all but lost in the cacophony that surrounds it.

Maybe the brass at Taito decided against trumpeting Parasol Star‘s connection to that classic series because it wasn’t created by Fukio Mitsuji, the man behind both Bubble Bobble and Rainbow Islands (aka “The Story of Bubble Bobble 2”)? I guess we’ll never know.